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Arizona Senate plans hand count of 2.1m ballots

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On Thursday, Republicans who control the Arizona Senate announced they plan to perform a total recount of 2.1 million ballots in the state’s highest-population county to ensure that President Joe Biden’s November win was legitimate.

Senate President Karen Fann (R) had been calling for a “full forensic audit” of Maricopa County’s election result and won a court order on February 26 granting the Senate access to the ballots and tabulation machines. Until this week, according to the Associated Press, she had never expressed that she wanted a complete recount, something Arizona law doesn’t permit except in narrow situations.

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Some GOP supporters of former President Donald Trump allege there was election fraud in Arizona and other swing states that caused his 2020 loss. Fann said she wants to answer their questions one way or the other, according to the AP.

On Thursday, Fann announced that she had decided on a “preferred forensic audit team” to supervise the recount but did not disclose the firm’s name, explaining she was still hammering out the final details, according to The Arizona Mirror.

She had previously been eyeing a company with deep ties to Trump’s campaign, per the AP, but announced last month that it was not being considered anymore. The Allied Security Operations Group collaborated with Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to promote allegations of election fraud and counting errors in Arizona and other states.

Fann’s announcement said she now plans to do a total hand recount of the ballots, as well as testing the tabulation machines and rescanning every ballot from Maricopa. The county, however, has already performed such a test using federally certified firms, who discovered no problems with the machines—in addition to scanning and hand counting all 2.1 million ballots, according to The Mirror.

“When all the work is done, there will be a full report for the Senate and County to review,” Fann said in a statement. “Our voters expect this audit, and it can be a big step in returning trust and confidence in our election process.”

While Fann said she hopes the effort is bipartisan, Arizona Senate Democrats have shot down that notion.

“We never wanted anything to do with that,” said Assistant Minority Leader Lupe Contreras (D), per the AP. “I guess you could say we worked in a bipartisan way, since we backed the Board of Supervisors, which is all Republican but one,” Contreras said.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

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RFK Jr. announces lifelong Democrat, advocate of left-leaning causes, CA native as running mate

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced Tuesday that attorney and tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan will be his vice presidential running mate in the upcoming election. The Independent candidate announced his choice for the 38-year-old Oakland, California native by praising her insight into “how Big Tech uses AI to manipulate the public,” her athletic ability, and willingness to be a “partner” in a number of policy areas, including on securing the border.

Fox News writes that Shanahan is a philanthropist with a long history of donating to Democrat and left-leaning causes, including supporting President Biden in his 2020 election bid before switching to Kennedy when he launched his own run for the Democrat nomination last year.

She is the founder and president of Bia-Echo Foundation, a private firm that describes its mission as focused on “new frontiers in reproductive longevity & equality, criminal justice reform and a healthy & livable planet.”

Fox News reports Shanahan initially dropped her support for Kennedy after he decided to run as an independent, but later got behind him again by giving $4 million to the super PAC that boosted his candidacy with a John F. Kennedy-themed campaign ad that ran during the Super Bowl in February.

Shanahan also previously donated to Democrat presidential candidates Marianne Williamson and Pete Buttigieg during the 2020 presidential race, and threw more than $150,000 behind progressive Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon’s 2020 election bid.

Shanahan, a life-long Democrat, told the crowd that she was leaving the party.

“The Democratic Party is supposed to be the party of compassion. It is supposed to be the party of free speech, and most importantly, the party of the middle class and the American dream,” Shanahan said.

“While I know many Democrats still abide by those values…I do believe they’ve lost their way in their leadership,” she continued.

And she urged “disillusioned” Democrats and Republicans to support Kennedy’s independent White House bid.

 

 

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